Scientists have just discovered the world's smallest land snail in China. The snail called the Angustopila dominikae only measures .03 inches in height where 10 snails can fit inside the eye of a sewing needle. This snail is also named after the wife of lead author of the study, Barna Páll-Gergely of Shinshu University in Japan.
Regarding this new snail discovery, researchers believe that extreme body sizes of organisms and creatures not only garner public attention but they also encourage interest of how these creatures can adapt to their habitats and environment.
Páll-Gergely adds that the investigation of tiny shelled land snails is crucial in the assessment of biodiversity and natural history including establishing the foundation of further studies of the evolution of dwarfism in invertebrate animals.
Scientists have uncovered the snails while examining soil samples after collecting them from the base of some limestone rocks in Guangxi Provine is southern China. Several snail specimens were found where researchers have found now empty, light grey snail shells on site.
Apart from this major discovery, researchers also found six new smaller species of terrestrial snails known as Angustopila subelevata which is measured just a small fraction bigger than the A. dominikae where scientists now consider them both as "microsnails" or "micromolluscs".
Scientists acknowledge the fact that it is challenging to discover these creatures as not only they are incredibly tiny, but the molluscs are extremely delicate and fragile which become often overlooked and are rarely found alive. The snail bodies also decay faster, before their shells disintegrate.
To date, not much is known about these microsnails in this specific ecosystem in China including the rest of the world's habitats. Researchers are still in the process of figuring out what the tiny snails feed on or their evolutionary relationship with other terrestrial snail species.
This new study is published in the journal ZooKeys.